Kitschy Kitsune

I recently stepped into foreign territory and decided to try Distress Inks. I had seen a lot of crafters using them on TV but had no idea how to go about it myself. After watching No Stress Distress Inks on Youtube it didn't look half as intimidating as I thought it was. I would recommend these tutorial videos to anyone who's not sure about inks. I know I wasn't - in fact I was scared of stamping point blank. The above photo is proof that anyone can do it - with a little help from the Purrfect Love Decoupage and Diecut pack from Gorjuss.


What I used:

Materials

• Purrfect Love Pack by Simply Gorjuss (Fox Die Cut & Green Designer Paper)
• A5 Black Card from The Works
• Docrafts foam pads.
• Double sided tape.
• Text printed scrapbook paper (Just some random scraps).

Tools

• Distress Inks (Tea Dye)
• Royal Langnickel Black Stamp Pad (any black will do).
• Cat's Eye Fluid Chalk Ink in Lipstick Red 
• Make up sponges.
• Woodware Punches in Maple Leaf & Birch  
• Martha Stewart Crafts Edge Punch in Doily Lace

First things first - I originally intended this card to be a concertina. I was feeling adventurous with my new scoreboard and bone folder. In the end, it was just a tall A5 card. You can fold it however way you want though. I chose black as it matches the background pattern of the topper. If you are thinking of using the card I used (250gsm by Make & Create) I would advise you not to. It's quite flimsy and the card ends up looking cheap.

I choose the green striped designer paper from the Purrfect Love pack. Its hard to tell in the pictures but its a very pale green with light lacey detailing in the corners. Trim it a few inches so that it your black card shows underneath. I ended up having a two inch or so border at the top and a skinnier one at the vertical edges. And here is the topper I used:

I think she is my favourite from the entire pack - plus I really love striped patterns...and foxes are too cute for words. Perfect. Around her are the die cut lines that are a bigger frame and a smaller frame. At first I wasn't going to use these but, as with most of my card designs, via a fluke I came out with an idea for them. That'll be shown later.

Take your Distress Ink Tea Dye and load up your blender tool. I'm cheap so I used make up sponges. In a circular motion work the edges and slowly inwards. Concentrate on darkening the corners more than the middle, since they'll be on show more the centre where the topper will be. The ink really brings out the lace pattern in the corners. It mutes the the stripes of the designer paper but its still visible enough so that it hasn't vanished. It has a cosy feel to it.  I found the white to be a bit too start so I inked the topper as well, including the frames so they were a nice golden brown colour. Unfortunately the only after picture I have of the inking process is the final product - oops. To finish off punch the shortest ends of the paper with the Martha Stewart Edger.

Again, I wouldn't recommend Martha Stewart punches. All of the ones I have tried in the past stick very easily and rip my paper, regardless of it being good quality or not. I prefer XKit or Woodware ones.

In keeping with the autumnal theme I had a brainwave to decorate above and below the topper with falling leaves. I was looking around for some scraps and found some with random text printed on it. It gave the shapes a little more depth so I cut alternating Maple Leaf and Birch leaves from it. Now came the messy part.

I inked the leaves with a base coat of Tea Dye, following it up with random swabs of the Cats Eye Chalk Ink in Lipstick. It doesn't have to be accurate, but just make sure you blend it quite well so it doesn't look like blobs. Don't worry if you put on too much red, you can just add more Tea Dye and blend them to dilute it. I still found the leaves to be a little flat so I added some black around the edges.

Now to put it all together (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

First off, apply the designer paper to the card. Lay the two die cut frames down and twist them away from each other so they form a heart shape. Secure it with double sided tape and apply foam pads underneath the bends so they sit up from the background. Don't worry if it looks a bit wonky - our fox girl will be sitting over the join in the centre so no one can tell. Choose a few leaves you want to be 'falling' around her and save the rest for the borders. Apply the falling leaves with foam pads.

For the border at the top I alternated maple and birch leaves, sticking foam pads onto the maples.

For the bottom, I tried to recreate a leaf pile, twisting them into different directions before glueing them down. I picked a few areas that needed to stand out more and used foam pads to get the 3D effect. I ran out of leaves and was too lazy to make some more to fill the gap so I improvised with a heart stained the same way.

And that's it. After my troubles with the MS punch, the edges looked quite ragged so I won't be using it again. Overall, I think the Purrfect Love set is really cute and has a lot of potential for a lot of cards and other projects. I'd also recommend the Cat's Eye Chalk Inks. They're full of ink and the shades blend well without soaking the paper.

Thanks for reading if you got this far and hope you have fun if you decide to do something similar.